Other States - West Bengal   

Trinamool defeated by Left, Congress-backed Independent

KOLKATA: All four nominees of the West Bengal ruling Left Front and an Independent has come up trumps in the biennial elections for five Rajya Sabha seats from the State.Among the Left Front nominees three are from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and one is from the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB).

With the defeat of the Trinamool Congress nominee at the hands of the Independent Ahmad Saeed Malihabadi, the strength of the principal Opposition has been reduced to two in the Rajya Sabha. The Independent was supported by both the Left Front and the Congress.

The victorious CPI(M)’s nominees are Shyamal Chakravarty, president of the State unit of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions and member of the party’s central committee, Tarini Kanta Roy and Prasanta Chatterjee. Both Mr. Roy and Mr. Chatterjee were re-nominated. AIFB general secretary Debabrata Biswas was re-elected.

Their victory was a foregone conclusion given the Left Front strength — 235 in the House that has a total 293 members (one seat is vacant). The number of valid votes cast was 288.

The triumph of Mr. Malihabadi, editor of a local Urdu daily, was significant as the seat he won with the backing of the Left Front and the Congress — otherwise political rivals — was the only one contested. He defeated Dinesh Trivedi of the Trinamool.

The Trinamool’s tally in the Assembly — 30 — was not enough to see its candidate through despite the support of two members of the Socialist Unity Centre of India with which the party has recently forged a tie-up.

Even after its MLAs cast their votes for its four nominees, the Left Front was left with a surplus of 38 votes (one member being absent), which went in favour of Mr. Malihabadi.

The Trinamool leadership said the people of the State would give a fitting reply to the Congress, which did not support the party’s nominee. The Congress has 20 MLAs.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Trinamool defeated by Left, Congress-backed Independent

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu